5 Tips to Manage and Organize E-Mail

How do you focus on your urgent e-mail and organize the rest for your review? Think about how you handle your paper mail. You probably sort your paper mail quickly before you read it to figure out what to look at first, what to read later, and what to throw away. Here are some similar ways to automatically process and prioritize your electronic mail for better and faster results:

(Although the following tips refer to Microsoft Outlook, many of these features are similar to those found in other mail systems. For specific how-to steps, and more e-mail and Outlook tips, visit The Software Pro website.)

1. Color Code to Identify Key Messages

Color code priority messages to quickly identify e-mail from your most important contacts such as management, staff, or team members. To apply colors in Microsoft Outlook, highlight a message from a contact, choose Tools > Organize, select the option Using Colors and pick how you want to color-code your incoming messages from the specific contact.

2. Streamline with Categories and Folders

Stop using your Inbox as a reference system filled with messages that don't require an immediate action. To further organize your messages, create categories and folders with useful labels such as Team Members, Projects, Personal, and others. The Categories feature in Microsoft Outlook, for instance, helps to organize and view active messages into groups within your Inbox. Create and use e-mail folders to store messages that you have already handled and wish to keep for history or folders for e-mail that contains informational reading and general reference.

Note that folders and categories sort in alphabetical order which is not likely to place your priority items at the top. Adding a letter or number at the beginning of a label, such as a-Team Members and b-Projects, will sort these towards the top of your Inbox.

3. Filter with Rules

Rules are instructions or filters that automatically categorize, organize, and prioritize messages based on conditions that you set. As new messages are received in Microsoft Outlook, right-click on the message and left click on the command Create a Rule to apply a category or move the message to a folder. If all you do is apply rules, you may be able to get through e-mail in half the time it took before.

4. Learn Easy Navigation

Stop wasting time by moving in and out of each message and start applying simple navigation tricks. In Microsoft Outlook, for instance, you can move in your Inbox with the up or down arrow key to select a message. Then press [Enter] to open the message. To move to the next message directly from the current e-mail, look for toolbar buttons with arrows or press [Ctrl] + > for the next message and [Ctrl] + < for the previous e-mail. Press [Esc] to close the active message.

5. Sort to Find Messages

To quickly sort your e-mail messages, click once on a column heading for the new order you want such as sender, subject or date. For instance, to sort messages by the sender, click once on the Sender heading. By clicking twice on a column heading, the sort order changes from ascending (A-Z) order to descending (Z-A) order. By the way, the abbreviations RE and FW in the Subject line are ignored when you sort messages alphabetically by subject.

Implementing these ideas for overcoming e-mail overload can help you become more productive and free you from your Inbox.

Dawn Bjork Buzbee is The Software Pro? and a certified Microsoft Office Expert and Microsoft Office Specialist Master Instructor. Dawn shares smart and easy ways to effectively use software and technology through her work as a speaker, trainer, and consultant. Visit www.SoftwarePro.com">http://www.SoftwarePro.com for great Microsoft Office software tips and tricks or to contact Dawn.

Minimum salary threshold of ÂŁ30k-a-year will also apply to migrants from the EU27

Sajid Javid is expected to publish a long-delayed white paper on Britainâs tough new immigration regime on Wednesday, as the prime minister seeks to build the case for her Brexit deal by pledging to âtake back control of our bordersâ.

The sentencing of Donald Trumpâs former national security adviser Michael Flynn has been delayed during a live-wire court hearing filled with stunning reversals in which the judge accused him of having âsold your country outâ.

Google breached suppression laws by sending out emails headlined with the name of man charged with backpacker murder

Google has been forced to explain to the New Zealand government why it breached the countryâs strict suppression laws by naming the man charged with murdering British backpacker Grace Millane.

The company said it had occurred by mistake, but stopped short of apologising for the blunder. Senior policy manager Ross Young told media Google had acted when it had been made aware of the court order, four days after it was issued.

Russell Horning is credited with making the dance move a global phenomenon in 2016

A lawsuit has been filed on behalf of Russell Horning, aka the Backpack Kid, against a video game company, alleging they breached his copyright for including his signature dance move âflossingâ in their wildly popular game Fortnite.

Horning, 16, is credited with popularising âThe Flossâ, and became famous when he did the dance on Saturday Night Live during a performance by Katy Perry in 2016.

Country braces for snap election as parliament rejects minority administration

Belgiumâs government of four years has fallen on the issue of migration after the countryâs parliament rejected an appeal from prime minister, Charles Michel, for its support for a minority administration.

Michel was forced to offer his resignation to the King of the Belgians, Philippe, after the Socialist party, with support from the Greens, proposed a vote of no confidence in his administration.

Language saying marriage was between âtwo people with absolutely equal rightsâ was dropped due to public pressure

Cubaâs government has backed away from enshrining gay marriage protections in its new constitution after widespread popular rejection of the idea.

Gay rights advocates had proposed eliminating the description in the constitution of marriage as a union of a man and woman, changing it to the union of âtwo people ... with absolutely equal rights and obligations.â But the government said on Tuesday that language promoting the legalisation of gay marriage would be removed from the draft.

Korean Air will increase penalties after 35 cases of fans buying tickets to get close to their idols before cancelling

The latest trick employed by K-pop fans desperate to get close to band members, which sees them buy expensive airline tickets and then abruptly cancelling their flight once they have taken photos of their idols, has prompted South Koreaâs flagship airline to increase refund penalties for late cancellations.

Korean Air announced the decision days after three fans of the boy band Wanna One took their obsession to extremes, boarding a Seoul-bound flight in Hong Kong to take photos of the bandâs 11 members. They then demanded that they be allowed to disembark just minutes before takeoff and that they be given a refund.

After the Finnish city was razed to the ground by the German army in the second world war, architect Alvar Aalto rebuilt it to a reindeer-shaped street grid. Then Santa came to town âŠ

As soon as you land at Rovaniemi airport in Lapland you see a reindeer. Not a real one, admittedly, but somebody in a Rudolf suit cheerily greeting passengers who have just arrived. A couple of miles from âSantaâs official airportâ lies Santa Claus Village, an amusement park complete with elves, real reindeers, huskies, shops and restaurants that draws more than 600,000 visitors a year to this isolated spot at the edge of the Arctic Circle.

There are reindeer everywhere in Rovaniemi: humans dressed as them at the airport, real ones pulling sleighs at Santa Claus Village and statues of them throughout the city centre.

Once a thriving, glamorous city, Venezuelaâs capital is buckling under hyperinflation, crime and poverty

A portrait of Hugo ChĂĄvez and a Bolivarian battle cry greet visitors to the BoyacĂĄ viewpoint in the mountains north of Caracas. âIt is our duty to find one thousand ways and more to give the people the life that they need!â

But as Venezuela buckles, ChĂĄvezâs pledge sounds increasingly hollow. Vandals have splashed paint into the comandanteâs face and beneath him Venezuelaâs capital is dying.

Most cities have not been designed with womenâs safety in mind but, from Egypt to Rwanda, new technology, design and education are reducing the threat of violence on the street

Sexual violence has rarely been so high on the news agenda. Since allegations against the movie producer Harvey Weinstein started to emerge in October last year, the global problem has finally become a mainstream issue. The United Nations has estimated that one in three women have experienced physical or sexual violence, with 120 million girls around the world having been forced into sex acts.

The repercussions go beyond the physical and psychological toll on individuals who have been attacked. Harassment and fear of violence can impede free movement of girls and women and stop them reaching their full potential, both socially and economically. âIf women feel afraid,â says Laura Somoggi, who manages the biennial Womanity award for the prevention of violence against women, âit could undermine their ability to work or go to school or university which affects their empowerment, their rights.â Fear of attack is a bar to women escaping poverty.

As thousands gather for the first public viewing of Muskâs âloop trackâ, skeptics wonder whether it will live up to its promises

Elon Musk enthused that this was no ordinary tunnel opening, but something epic and âincredibly profoundâ. Skeptics wondered whether it was just a hyped-up coming-out party for a hole in the ground.

In the end, the first public viewing of Muskâs latest visionary project â an underground âloopâ track that promises to revolutionize transport in the 21st-century city â turned out to be a grand mixture of imaginative futurism and showbiz razzamatazz, not to mention a showcase for a novel tunnel-boring technology that may be the most significant development of all.

Ogoniland women produce most of the familyâs food but the twin pressures of land grabs and pollution are making it impossible for them to survive

Two women pick a slimy path through a creek, prized by generations of their female forbears for its mangroves, which once provided an abundance of food.

The elder in orange, the younger in blue, they fail to find a single periwinkle snail, a single fish or a usable piece of kindling between them. Their feet struggle to take purchase on the mud, more slippery than it used to be.

A selection of some of the planetâs most stomach-turning foods, including maggot cheese, fish sperm sac sushi and Chinese mouse wine, are on display in Los Angeles as part of a new exhibition that aims to delight and disgust in equal measure. The Disgusting Food Museum displays dishes from around the world in a bid to challenge stereotypes about which ingredients one would consider to be disgusting

NSW energy minister Don Harwin said he was âvery disappointedâ with federal minister Angus Taylor heading off a Coag vote

The New South Wales energy minister has blasted his Coalition colleagues in the federal government for blocking his attempt to debate emissions reduction at an energy ministers meeting.

Don Harwin said he was âvery disappointedâ with the outcome of the Council of Australian Governments energy council on Wednesday because an obligation to reduce emissions is âabsolutely criticalâ to encourage investment in new power generation and lower prices.

Trafficked to the UK and raped for years, Abdul became homeless, got involved in crime and was threatened with deportation

The Home Office has paid ÂŁ30,000 to a victim of child trafficking who was held illegally in immigration detention for several months despite having refugee status and showing clear signs of having been tortured and abused.

Abdul* (not his real name) was about seven when he was trafficked into the UK in the mid-90s. He thinks he came from Somalia but is not certain. He lived with adults who pretended to be his family but who abused him physically and sexually. One attempt to escape failed when police sent him back to his abusers. Suffering serious mental health problems as a teenager, he became street homeless and addicted to drugs.

From the flight of Rohingya Muslims into neighbouring Bangladesh to the journey undertaken by pilgrims travelling to the Ganges delta, the lives of migrants are celebrated in a series of stunning entries to a photography competition organised by Oxford Universityâs centre of migration, policy and society

Negotiations between countries have stopped, raising particular concern for Canada as its relationship with US sours

Amid an increasingly bitter diplomatic feud sparked by the detention of a senior Huawei executive in Vancouver, a highly coveted free trade deal between Canada and China looks increasingly unlikely.

The arrest of Meng Wanzhou, chief financial officer of telecom giant Huawei â and Chinaâs subsequent detention of two Canadians â has halted negotiations between the two countries. And as the United States prepares to request Mengâs extradition in the coming weeks, China has vowed to unleash punitive measures.

Russian media have seized on the yellow vest protests â but they donât seem to have played a role in their genesis

Russian state television has spent much of the last two weeks playing up the chaos of Franceâs protests, continuing a trend of coverage that emerged long before troll factories and the modern era of âfake newsâ.

Seven years ago, the Kremlin-backed TV station Russia Today went all in on coverage of a leftist street protest in the west. Did Occupy Wall Street fit the Kremlinâs interests of showing a western nation in (relative) chaos? Yes. But at that time, few would have suggested that Occupy was anything but a genuine protest movement.

Geopolitical and economic rivalry between China and the US â not a breach of Trumpâs Iran sanctions â is whatâs really behind Meng Wanzhouâs arrest

Blame the British, as usual. In 1807, in the midst of a struggle with Napoleonic France, HMS Leopard, a Royal Navy ship of the line, attacked, boarded and captured an American frigate, USS Chesapeake, off Norfolk, Virginia. The British claimed their action was justified by the presence on the American ship of four English deserters, whom they arrested. But, for President Thomas Jefferson, it was an outrageous, illegal infringement of the sovereignty and independence of the infant republic, eventually leading to the 1812 war.

Itâs fair to say the Americans never forgot lessons drawn from the Chesapeake humiliation â and have been faithfully following Britainâs script ever since. As its power grew, the US, too, assumed the right to extend its national writ beyond its shores. One modern example is the way the US justice department ruthlessly pursues foreign nationals, such as the Scottish hacker Gary McKinnon, who are deemed to have broken US law. McKinnonâs extradition was ultimately blocked in 2012 by Britainâs then home secretary, Theresa May, after a public outcry.

From Kevin Hart to Lena Dunham to Christmas songs, sometimes itâs a good idea to look critically at the past. But you canât just ban everything

If 2016 was the year of the celebrity death, and 2017 the year of the celebrity sex scandal, then 2018 has been the year celebrities have been held to account for things they said in the past that no longer wash in these suddenly, if somewhat belatedly, enlightened times. Quite what to do next remains slightly TBD.

Many high-profile comedians have come under this kind of fire, from Sarah Silverman to Amy Schumer to Ricky Gervais, and last week it was the turn of Kevin Hart. He lasted precisely two seconds as the named host of the 2019 Oscars before his prior fondness for outrageously homophobic comedy, including a routine about how awful it would be to have a gay child, and his predilection for similarly hilarious witticisms on Twitter (including one tweet describing someone as looking like âa gay billboard for Aidsâ) were deemed, as the modern lingo goes, problematic.

The Democratic Republic of the Congo goes to the polls on Sunday with 21 candidates running to replace Joseph Kabila, who has been president since 2001. The photographer John Wessels has been watching the campaign transform the streets of the capital, Kinshasa

Sarah Sanders struggles to answer questions about Donald Trump's apparently more favourable view of Michael Flynn compared with his former aide Michael Cohen, when both have cooperated with special counsel Robert Mueller. She says Cohen is known to be a liar before saying 'I don't see any reason to go beyond that comment.' Sanders continued to claim the FBI had 'ambushed' Flynn â contrary to Flynnâs own statements. Asked if Trump was concerned about Flynn lying to the FBI and working for a foreign government, Sanders said: 'Not when it comes to things that have anything to do with the president.'

Hungary's rightwing government has faced a rare sit-in by opposition politicians. About a dozen MPs spent the night in the state television headquarters, in Budapest, in a continuation of their demonstration against PM Viktor OrbĂĄn's policies

Italy's anti-immigration deputy prime minister is Europe's most followed politician on Facebook, with 3.4 million followers. Matteo Salvini used live streams in the run-up to parliamentary elections to speak directly to his supporters and show, as he puts it, images 'they would never show' in the mainstream media

Israel has signalled its displeasure with Australia's recognition of West Jerusalem as its capital. A minister close to Benjamin Netanyahu said it was a mistake to contradict the notion of Israeli control over the whole city

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